Yesterday CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked GOP strategist Ed Rollins if a Hail Mary pass from Osama bin Laden might save John McCain’s electoral prospects. He cited the 2004 election, when a new video by the al-Qaeda head surfaced within days of the election.

“The problem when you do something late in the campaign is that you lose the believability,” Rollins said. “Unless it’s something totally outside any control of the campaign, I just don’t see it changing… People are now getting more comfortable with the idea that Barack Obama is going to be the next president, so I think some of these swing voters in the end fall into play as wanting to be with the winner, and I think that’s tough for McCain.”

I wonder: is there a parallel with Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign? While he’s faring far better than McCain in the polls, today’s announcement that his campaign would be suing Al Franken for breaking campaign laws seems to suggest a similar 11th-hour strategy. This is the fourth complaint filed against a Coleman challenger late in the election season. Will it work? Ask Ed Rollins.